


hallo mutti, hallo vati

by ClassyFangirl



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Ableist Language, Established Relationship, Family, Family Problems, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-25
Updated: 2013-10-25
Packaged: 2017-12-30 11:49:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1018258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClassyFangirl/pseuds/ClassyFangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt and Hermann visit the Gottlieb family after the Breach is closed. Some are happier to see them than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hallo mutti, hallo vati

**Author's Note:**

> A fill for an anonymous prompter on tumblr! Their prompt was just about the Gottliebs loving Newt, but I went and made it a little angstier, whoops. This is rated for mild language and one use of an ableist slur.
> 
> A short explanation, because I don't feel like I laid this out very well in the fic: Hermann's mother was born in England, while Lars and the children were all born in Germany. Dietrich and Karla are the oldest, Hermann in the middle, and Bastien the youngest. They moved from Germany to England when Hermann was perhaps five or six.

“We likely won’t see my father,” Hermann says. “If he’s here at all, he’ll likely be locked up in his study. He...doesn’t particularly want to see me, but my mother was stubborn.”

Newt nods seriously. “All right. No problem, man- it’s better that way. So I don’t kick him in the balls.”

Hermann is clearly pretending the idea doesn’t amuse him. “We will only see my mother and my siblings,” he continues. “Dietrich may have brought his wife and children, I’ve no idea. Karla will have left her husband in London, that’s the sort of thing she does. Bastien...I don’t know if Bastien is seeing anyone. We’ll see, I suppose.”

“Got it. Uh. And Dietrich’s wife’s name is...?”

“Elizabeth. Er.” Hermann frowns and looks thoughtful as the countryside rolls by. “ _Maybe_ Elizabeth. Possibly Alice? Ah, no, no, Alice is their daughter, Elizabeth is the wife. And their son is...Herbert. Henry. Henry, that’s it.”

“Oh boy.” Newt shakes his head and stares at the road ahead. “This is gonna be something else.”

They finally pull up to the house. It’s...big, Newt thinks. He’s lived in apartments and Shatterdomes all his life, he’s not a very good judge of what a _big_ house is. But it’s the only house for miles, out in the middle of the English countryside, and it has big windows. Newt equates big windows with wealth. He squeezes Hermann’s hand as they walk up to the front door.

“One last thing,” Hermann says as he raps on the door.

“Yeah?”

“I...haven’t told my family that we are together.”

Newt doesn’t have time to say something incredulous, because then the door swings open. The woman who stands in the doorway is tall, definitely taller than Newt even if she wasn’t wearing those impressive high heels. She bears a striking resemblance to Hermann, with her dark hair and brown doe eyes, but with a better command of lipstick and hairstyling than Hermann will ever possess.

Her stern-looking face goes soft. “Hermann, darling,” she says warmly. She even has the same pompous accent, holy shit. “Come in! Come in, loves, it’s freezing out.”

She beckons them in and shuts the door. It’s one hell of a house, complete with a grand staircase right in the front door, just like in every movie Newt’s ever seen. “Dietrich!” Momma Gottlieb calls. “Come take your brother and his colleague’s coats, won’t you, dear?”

She smiles at them again. “Doctor Geiszler, I presume,” she says. She holds out her hand. “I am Doctor Emily Whitehall-Gottlieb. But just call me Emily, love.”

“Great to meet you,” he says, grinning. “Call me Newt. Hermann tells me you’re a surgeon!”

“I am- trauma surgeon, to be specific. Oh, there you are, Dietrich. Give him your coats, boys, go ahead.”

Dietrich Gottlieb, meanwhile, looks almost nothing like Hermann and Emily. He’s blond, with icy blue eyes and a beak-like nose- the only resemblance lies in his stern frown. “Hermann,” he says. He’s got a stronger German sound to his voice, harsher consonants. “It’s been a while.”

“Indeed it has,” Hermann says.

There’s a painfully awkward, tense pause. Newt sheds his coat and holds it out to Dietrich. “Thanks, man,” he says. He grins forcefully until Hermann hands his parka over as well.

“Of course. I’ll be right back.”

Emily shakes her head and smiles. “Let’s go into the den. Karla and Bastien must be waiting.”

They follow her into a fairly cozy-looking room with a roaring fireplace. There on the couch are a woman and another man- the infamous Karla and Bastien, apparently. Karla, pretty though with the same lines of age as Dietrich, has the same hair as her brother, falling around her face delicately, but she has her mother’s eyes, while Bastien, younger, is just the opposite. They both have softer faces than Hermann does, and Karla actually smiles when she sees them. “Hermann! My baby brother!”

“Karla,” he says stiffly.

She rises and gives him a powerful hug. “My darling baby brother,” she says. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”

“Technically, Bastien is the baby of the family,” Hermann says. Karla just swats his arm and rolls her eyes. Newt likes her already.

“And who’s this?” Karla asks, turning to Newt. “Your boyfriend, Hermann?”

Hermann chokes, but Newt says, “Actually, yes. Though he gets kinda twitchy when you use the b-word- he prefers ‘partner’, but then people think we mean lab partner and it’s a whole thing.”

“Hermann!” Emily says. “For goodness’ sakes, you could have said something! Do you mean to tell me I didn’t have to go to the trouble of readying the guest room?”

“My apologies,” Hermann says. His face is bright red, and Newt feels kind of bad for outing them both so suddenly, but really, it had to happen eventually. “I...wasn’t quite sure how to break the news.”

Bastien laughs. “Oh, like none of us could’ve guessed. What, none of you knew he was dating the funny little professor from TU Berlin?”

Newt raises an eyebrow while Karla waves her hand. “We knew _that_ ,” she says, much to Hermann’s apparent chagrin. “But I didn’t know he was dating someone _new_! Who is this lucky boy anyway?”

“His name is Doctor Newton Geiszler,” Hermann says. “The brilliant idiot who helped save the world.”

“Who saved the world?” Dietrich asks, stepping back into the room.

“Hermann’s _boyfriend_ ,” Karla says gleefully.

“Hermann helped,” Newt adds. “You would not _believe_ it, man- he was the mastermind behind the whole operation, I just made it go a little smoother.”

Hermann raises an eyebrow. Newt shrugs; what? He can be humble. A little bit.

It apparently wins him over with the other Gottliebs, anyway- besides Dietrich, who has a scowl that seems to be at war with Hermann’s. Emily sits Newt and Hermann down on the couch, right in between Karla and Bastien, who are happy to interrogate Newt.

“How did you meet?”

“How long have you been together?”

“Just what did you do to help save the world?”

They’re enthusiastic, and Emily has yet to stop smiling fondly, so Newt’s pretty sure he’s scoring big with the in-laws. (Well. Not in-laws _yet_. ...Someday.)

“Oh!” Karla bumps Newt’s shoulder and looks excited. “Does he still have that ratty little stuffed lamb? Damn, I can’t remember the thing’s name-”

“Karla,” Hermann snaps, his cheeks going pink again.

“Karla, I’m sure he doesn’t have it anymore,” Emily says, waving a hand.

Karla shrugs, smiling wickedly. “I helped get his old bedroom ready, and it certainly wasn’t in there. Really, what _was_ its name, Hermann?”

“I don’t-” Hermann clears his throat. “I don’t remember.”

A blatant lie. Newt pats Hermann’s knee affectionately.

“Oskar,” Dietrich says, contributing to the conversation for the first time in a long while. “It was named Oskar, wasn’t it, Hermann?”

“P-perhaps,” Hermann says. “You seem to remember better than I.”

Hermann, _his_ Hermann, owning a stuffed lamb named Oskar. The mental image is so cute Newt could just die. “I haven’t seen any lambs,” he says. “So who knows where it went?”

He honestly hasn’t seen it, but Hermann gives him a grateful look, like he’s lying to defend him. Newt grins and kisses Hermann’s cheek quickly. He’s _so_ gonna ask about Oskar later, it’s too damn cute to pass up.

“Hermann was such an adorable child,” Emily says. “Oh! I _must_ have our old photo albums around here somewhere...”

“Mother, _really_ -”

“Aw, c’mon, Hermann,” Newt says. “It’ll be fun! I wanna see kid you.”

“There is no part of my childhood that you haven’t already seen,” he hisses, as quiet as possible.

Newt pouts at him. “You know I can’t remember any Drift stuff. Neither can you.”

“Drift stuff?” Bastien prompts.

Hermann stiffens and frowns deeply. “‘Cause of the kaiju,” Newt says. “No more questions, though. It’s classified.”

Bastien gives him a pleased grin. Jesus, what does this guy do again? Teach high school history? The only Gottlieb without a doctorate and he’s got a better relationship with his dad than Hermann does. Newt has got to get to the bottom of this, one of these days.

Emily returns with a thick volume that reads _Gottlieb Family January 1984 - November 2000_ in curly gold font. “There’s bound to be some delightful pictures of all of them in there,” she says. “Go on! Hermann’ll start showing up about a quarter of the way in.”

There are indeed some _awesome_ pictures in the book. From a hospital picture of Emily holding a screaming baby Hermann, to a group picture of Dietrich, Karla, and Hermann, all of them scowling like they were born to do it. There are pictures of a young Hermann playing with toy airplanes and spaceships, grinning joyfully- he even finds one with Hermann cuddling the apparently infamous Oskar to his chest, and it’s so sweet Newt could just die.

There’s a picture of Lars and Hermann that breaks his heart. Dated 1998, Hermann must be nine years old, and he’s laid up in bed with a leg brace, frowning. Lars has a hand on his shoulder, giving the camera one of those thin, annoyed smiles Newt’s seen on the news a thousand times. Newt takes hold of Hermann’s hand and rubs his thumb across Hermann’s knuckles.

“Head towards the back,” Hermann says. “There might be some better ones there, if I remember correctly.”

Newt nods and flips to the final pages. There, labeled _Hermann’s first day of teaching, Sept. 2000_ , is a picture of an awkward, gawky young Hermann, smiling broadly at the camera.

“Hermann taught an algebra course at the local secondary school in between his own classes,” Emily says. “We were so _proud_ of him, our darling teaching already.”

“Though not for very long,” Dietrich says. “How long did you last, Hermann? Two weeks?”

Hermann freezes up again, but Karla rolls her eyes. “Oh, don’t give him that! He was an eleven-year-old boy teaching maths to a load of teenagers. When _you_ were eleven, all you did was play football.”

“Dietrich’s jealous,” Bastien stage-whispers to Newt. “At this rate, Hermann’s going to get a Fields Medal before he gets a Nobel.”

“ _If_ he gets a Nobel,” Karla adds.

Dietrich bristles at their comments. “I am most certainly _not_ jealous. I doubt I’d ever be jealous of any of you- _especially_ not the cripple.”

The room goes dead silent. Newt can feel his hands shaking, and he’s _this close_ to doing something stupid when Emily says, coldly, “Dietrich, perhaps you ought to call your wife. I’m sure she’d like to hear from you.”

Dietrich scowls but stands. “That’s a good idea. Thank you, Mother. I’ll send her your regards.”

“How kind of you.” They glare at each other for a moment more before Dietrich storms out of the room.

Emily shakes her head, stands, and crosses over to the couch. “Hermann, love, could you stand up for a moment?”

He does, and she immediately wraps him in a hug. “Mother-”

“Shhh. I never did do this enough, did I?” She sighs against his neck. “My sweetheart. My _liebling_.”

Yeah, she’s definitely Newt’s second-favorite Gottlieb. After a moment, his number one favorite Gottlieb slowly hugs her back.

Heavy footsteps sound from the hallway. Newt glances around Hermann and Emily’s legs and feels his heart drop into his stomach when he sees a tall, sour-faced blond man standing at the entrance to the den. Lars Gottlieb.

“I finished my work early,” Lars says. Hermann jumps back from his mother’s hug and stares. “And I thought I might come see my children.”

“Father,” Hermann says. Newt can see him shaking, so he stands and presses his side to Hermann’s. Hermann wraps his hand around Newts and squeezes tight.

“Hermann. It’s been a long while.” He nods at Newt. “Doctor Geiszler.”

“Doctor Gottlieb,” he says. It takes a lot of effort- and Hermann’s steady hand -to keep him from adding “you dick” at the end.

“I understand you’ve studied the kaiju extensively,” Lars says. “You had some interesting theories.”

“Some _awesome_ discoveries, too.”

Lars nods stiffly. “Hm. Well. It’s good to have met you. I’m glad to have seen you, Hermann. I’m afraid I have to go meet a few professors from the university. I’ll be back later tonight, Emily.”

And he turns on his heel and leaves.

_Fuck_ , what an asshole. Newt squeezes Hermann’s hand extra hard so he doesn’t start spewing curses in front of everyone. Emily crosses her arms and frowns deeply while Hermann sighs heavily.

“Mother, I’m sorry to say I don’t think Newton and I will be staying the night,” Hermann says.

Emily just nods. “Of course, dearest. Anyway, Dietrich is going home tomorrow, and your father is leaving for Berlin in two days. Karla and Bastien will be here a few days more- isn’t that right?”

Karla and Bastien nod quickly.

“That’s right. So perhaps you can come by before you head back to Hong Kong?”

Hermann smiles slightly. “I believe we can make that happen.” He kisses her cheek. “I’ll see you soon.”

Karla hugs both Hermann and Newt, and Bastien shakes their hands. “You’d better come back,” Karla says to Hermann. “It’s been too bloody long, all right?”

“Right,” Hermann says.

Emily pulls Newt into a hug. “Take care of him,” she says quietly. “Promise me that.”

“I promise. You can trust me on that.”

In the car, Newt says, “So. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the best, how was that for a Gottlieb family gathering?”

Hermann pinches the bridge of his nose and shrugs. “A seven, I suppose. Dietrich didn’t punch me this time and Karla wasn’t drunk.”

Well. All right, then. “Hey. Look at me.”

Hermann does, and Newt kisses him softly. “That was pretty good,” Newt says. “And we can come back and see the less asshole-ish family members soon. You wanna do that?”

“Oh, yes. I’ve missed my mother quite terribly, and Karla and Bastien aren’t awful.”

Newt grins and pats Hermann’s arm. “Awesome. Back to the hotel, then?”

“Yes. Though it’ll be a long drive.”

“That’s fine by me. You can tell me all about Oskar.”

“Don’t _you_ start-”

“I’m not _starting_ something, it’s cute! It sounds cute! I wanna know why I haven’t met him yet.”

“You insufferable-”

And so on, for the whole ride back.

**Author's Note:**

> (Oskar the stuffed lamb was created on a lazy afternoon on tumblr. He will likely make appearances in future, if unrelated, fics, because I've grown attached.)


End file.
